November 21, 2006
Six Imams Removed From Plane
From Breitbart:
Six Muslim imams were removed from a US Airways flight at Minneapolis- St. Paul International Airport on Monday and questioned by police for several hours before being released, a leader of the group said.
The six were among passengers who boarded Flight 300, bound for Phoenix, around 6:30 p.m., airport spokesman Pat Hogan said.
A passenger initially raised concerns about the group through a note passed to a flight attendant, according to Andrea Rader, a spokeswoman for US Airways. She said police were called after the captain and airport security workers asked the men to leave the plane and the men refused.
Apparently the imams were saying their prayers while waiting. One of them expressed dismay that Americans know so little about Islam...but not for want of trying on the part of Muslim leaders.
CAIR is on the case:
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, expressed anger at the detentions.
"CAIR will be filing a complaint with relevant authorities in the morning over the treatment of the imams to determine whether the incident was caused by anti-Muslim hysteria by the passengers and/or the airline crew," Hooper said. "Because, unfortunately, this is a growing problem of singling out Muslims or people perceived to be Muslims at airports, and it's one that we've been addressing for some time."
I don't know why anyone might get nervous around a group of Muslims on a plane. Could it be because of this? Or this? Until we see more active condemnation of atrocities perpetrated in the name of Islam, don't expect the majority of "uninformed" Americans to embrace the religion of peace.
UPDATE (11:41 am): In a (somewhat) related piece, Michelle Malkin tells us how Nonie Darwish was disinvited to speak at Brown University because she's too controversial in the eyes of Muslim students. Once again, open debate is squelched in the name of political correctness.
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With yesterday’s news story in mind, I wanted to give you a few facts we’ve found in our studies. It's interesting to read the differing opinions on this subject, but here are the facts. While Americans were more likely to favor stricter security measures directly after 9/11, there is still some concern today. Half of Americans say there is no excuse for the racial profiling of African Americans, but two-thirds say greater scrutiny of Middle Eastern people is "understandable." Check out more information on this topic at http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/red_flags.cfm?issue_type=race#profiling.
Posted by: William at November 22, 2006 12:25 PMRacial profiling. Hrmph.
I think being on alert for terrorists is not a bad thing. Most terrorists, contrary to politically correct wishes, DO fit a profile. There are always exceptions, of course, and it's only smart to screen everyone. But when guarding the sheep, it's only natural to keep an eye out for wolves. Or dogs, in this case.
Posted by: reverse_vampyr at November 22, 2006 01:36 PM
